During a geneology investigation I was trying to find a military record for a soldier in the KSLI in WW2 who was a french translator. His father was French Canadian and had been in the KSLI in WW1 as a French translator and remained in Shropshire and married. They were both French translators in WW2. Try as I might I can't find anything about how the KSLI used these translators during the wars and I can't find any military record for either of them. Any help would be appreciated.

RootsChat is the busiest, largest free family history forum site in the country. It is completely free to use. Register now.Also register instantly with Facebook or Twitter (and other social networks). Start your genealogy search now.

RootsChat is the busiest, largest free family history forum site in the country. It is completely free to use. Register now.Also register instantly with Facebook or Twitter (and other social networks). Start your genealogy search now.

Hi MaxD, thanks for your information. The translators I'm interested in are Percy Hocking who was a French Canadian and came over to England in WW1 presumably to translate for the KSLI. He had a son in 1917, Lucian M Hocking, and both father and son were french translators attached to the KSLI in WW2. Lucian was a private and his service number was 2190277. I have no idea what happened to them between the wars or after WW2, no records appear to exist thereafter.

I can find no service record (Brit or Canadian) for Percy Hocking in WW1 that links the name to the KSLI.

The WW2 number you quote for Lucian is in the number block allocated to the Royal Engineers although that of itself doesn't mean he couldn't have served with the KLSLI. The difficulty is that a WW2 soldiers' records would still be held by MOD and have to be applied (and paid) for.

May I ask how strong the evidence is for their involvement with the KSLI? With Percy you say "presumably".

While they won't have service records, it could be that the KSLI museum may have information relating to translators so if nothing else turns up, may I suggest contacting them.

I'm sorry that isn't very helpful, are there any other clues - medals perhaps?MaxD

Thanks for the reply, I'm absolutely stumped at present. The KSLI connection came from Lucien Hocking's marriage certificate, he married in 1941 and the regiment and his service number were included on the document. Percy was thought to have been with the same regiment based at Tern Hill near Shrewsbury and was known to have settled in the area around Tern Hill. If not the KSLI then it may have been some other regiment at Tern Hill?. OR just the MoD at Tern Hill?

A new thought. Was he Percy Lionel Hocking?? Finding them in The 1939 in Harborne Birmngham shows Percy as a Percy L Hocking. There is a service record for WW1 for a Corporal Percy Lionel Hocking later commissioned as a Captain in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later the Machine Gun Corps. His record, as an officer, is not on line but can be obtained from the National Archives. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1156092

Hi I'm also looking for a Lucien hocking and his father was Percy hocking ...French Canadian....although mine was born in 1919 ...I have information up to 1955 but nothing after...not sure if these are the same people

Family History Help

All Census Lookups are Crown Copyright, National Archives for academic and non-commercial research purposes only.
RootsChat.com cannot be held responsible directly or indirectly for the messages or content posted by others. Inline images in messages are the copyright of the respective linked sites.